BOSTON - A who’s-who list of Massachusetts’s top Democratic politicians attended a rally against gun violence at Faneuil Hall on Wednesday.

The rally came on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech. Many of the speakers referenced the anniversary.

“We lost Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X. Their names we know,” said U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass. “We lost 31,000 people last year, most of whose names will be long forgotten. That is why we are here.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.,also attended the rally, as did Democratic U.S. Reps. Michael Capuano, John Tierney and Stephen Lynch, Attorney General Martha Coakley and several mayors and local officials. Lynch said his cousin was killed by gun violence.

Federal and state governments have put a renewed focus on gun violence in the wake of deadly shootings last year at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., in which 12 people were killed, and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which 26 students and staff were shot to death.

The rally was part of the “No More Names” tour, organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an anti-gun violence group started by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The tour, which features rallies calling for increased gun control measures, particularly universal background checks, started on June 14, on the six-month anniversary of the Newtown shooting, and plans to visit 25 cities in 100 days.

Menino said people today must follow King’s message and stand up for what is right to curb gun violence. “For too long, we waited for the next national tragedy, mourned the loss, comforted the families, and let Congress move on,” Menino said.

Menino said 33 Americans are killed each day by gun violence. Although Massachusetts has some of the nation’s strictest gun control laws, including a ban on assault weapons, Menino said 65 percent of the guns recovered at crime scenes in Boston alone come from out of state. He urged Congress to put in place universal background checks. Menino vowed to stay involved in the issue of gun control even after his term as mayor ends in January.

The U.S. Senate earlier this year narrowly defeated a proposal to expand background checks for gun buyers, even as President Barack Obama and other Democrats pushed for stronger measures, including reviving a ban on assault weapons and instituting a ban on high capacity magazines.

Warren said she expects Congress will take another vote on both background checks and an assault weapons ban. “We are not going away on this issue,” Warren said after the rally. “This is not a case of there’s been one vote and it’s over. Our children are at risk and until we have made our children safer, we will not go away.”

Warren and Markey both support bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as universal background checks.

The state Legislature is holding a series of statewide hearings on gun laws as the Bay State considers a wide range of measures, including a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick to restrict individuals from buying more than one firearm per month. The final hearing will be held on Sept. 13 at the Statehouse.

State Rep. Hank Naughton, D-Clinton, who is House chairman of the Legislature’s Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, said he anticipates the final legislation will deal with several topics, including creating uniformity among different municipalities’ gun licensing procedures; retrofitting schools to enhance school safety; and improving access to mental health services while removing stigma for those who seek help.

“We have no intention to bother anyone who is a lawful, law-abiding firearm owner,” Naughton said. “Our goal is to get illegal trafficking to stop.”

Jim Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners' Action League, a gun rights group, reached after the rally, said he thinks the representatives from Massachusetts should first “look at the failures of the laws we have here in the commonwealth.” Wallace said the state’s tough gun laws have failed to reduce gun crimes and “fail to recognize the Second Amendment as a civil right.” He pointed specifically to problems with licensing procedures, which can require gun owners to wait for months to get their gun license applications approved. “There’s a multitude of problems with laws and administration in Massachusetts that they should be looking at before they advise anyone else to do anything,” Wallace said.

More than 100 people attended the rally, including family members of gun violence victims, as well as members of several advocacy groups.

Pat Sherlock, a freelance writer and grandmother from West Barnstable, came with Grandmothers Against Gun Violence, a group started after the Newtown shooting. “I have seven grandchildren…I want them to grow up and be safe,” Sherlock said. “When my daughters were growing up, I never worried about safety once they were in school.”

Kim Odom, a Boston mother whose eighth-grade son was killed while walking on the street, said she vowed that her son’s death would not be in vain. In addition to finding out who killed him, she said she also wanted to know, “Where did the gun come from that took my child’s life?”